Aretha Franklin Halts Film Screening Due To Unauthorised Footage Of Her

Soul queen Aretha Franklin has won an injunction from a Denver court to halt a screening of Amazing Grace, which was due to premiere at Telluride Film Festival, due to its use of unauthorised footage which "improperly used her likeness and name".

As reported by Hollywood Reporter, the emergency injunction came as a result of Franklin filing papers citing that the footage in Amazing Grace of her 1972 performance at New Missionary Baptist Church in L.A. should have required her consent to distribute the film. Director Sydney Pollack shot the footage himself in 1972. 

The ruling states that "In 2008, a producer named Alan Elliott obtained rights to the footage of the concert from Warner Bros. Studios," but that he had no permission to distribute the footage. 

The lawsuit states that 80% of the film is constituted of Franklin's performances of her famous 1972 album, with the judge deciding the film is in violation of a US anti-bootlegging statute, too.